Halloween! Another favorite episode of mine. I mean, look at all the goodies on display here. “Well, that’s just . . . . neat.” Soldier!Xander (mmmmm). Oz and Willow: “Who
is that girl?” Our first introduction to Ethan and Ripper (not that we haven’t seen glimpses of Ripper before, but here we get, well, not an explanation, but the start of one). Cordy in a cat suit – Willow as a sexy ghost. “What’s up with your hair?” “Do you love my insides?” The Duchess of Buffonia!
I could go on and on. (I probably will!) ;D
We get a lot of comparisons in this ep between the three main teen female characters – Buffy and Willow and Cordelia. The three of them in the girl’s bathroom at school. Buffy looking at her life and wants to be a “normal” girl, but more than that, she wanting to be the kind of “normal” girl that she
thinks Angel wants. She looks at his past and only sees the gowns and servants and horses and balls and gowns. Practical Willow there to point out that she’d still rather be able to vote. And Cordy providing that additional push toward insecurity in Buffy – “when it comes to dating,
I’m the slayer”. The three of them, post-spell. Buffy and Willow reversing roles of leader and follower, with Cordy, significantly, remaining herself. Buffy mentioning several times that Willow needs to “stop hiding”, but it’s Buffy who’s given the opportunity to “hide” inside the type of woman that she was admiring earlier and Willow who must step out of her ghost shell and set about fixing things. Cordy is apparently interested in Angel, yet at the end, it’s her and Xander. Posed together in the shot, foreshadowing the couple they will shortly become, (heck, they are even given the “parent” role of taking the reverted Halloween kiddies back home) watching Buffy and Angel walk away from them.
Me being me, I gotta take a bit of space to talk about the brief scene between Drusilla and Spike.
First, let me just say I love each and every one of the scenes between them in early season 2 – the writing and acting combined do such a perfect job with this sweet and creepy couple. (Sweetly creepy? Creepily sweet?) The way Spike calls her poodle. The way she drops Miss Edith to take his hand. The way he turns away from what he’s doing to assure her that he loves her “eyeballs to entrails”. The way his desire to kill the slayer is so linked to Dru (at least he believes this is the reason). Protecting her in this case, and it’s a nice continuity to later when we find out that the first slayer he killed was at least partly to impress Dru. The way he listens so intently to her description of the vision, teasingly coaxing her back when her mind wanders. He understands that her visions are true and important – takes notice of them and her.
By the by, I find the actual words of her vision very interesting. “Everything’s
switching,
outside to
inside.” (emphasis mine). ‘Cuz I think it’s important to remember this when reviewing what Ethan says as the spell is cast and when he and Ripper are talking about things. Plus it really seems to help explain the role reversal of Willow and Buffy. Because if outside moves to inside, then naturally it would follow that what is inside a person comes to the outside. (This is definitely the case with Xander. The strength and ability that he hides and covers up with jokes and sarcasm coming to the surface with the soldier personality.)
I liked how the spell seems to be like a wind blowing through the town. Buffy gets a feeling that it’s coming as we see wind blowing the trees behind her. As Ethan says the final words, the candle flames waver. We could almost think of it as blowing the breath out of Willow. Xander’s shoulder moves back and away, in a motion like someone is pushing past him, like a wind is buffeting him.
Love how Joss plays with his own themes here. He created Buffy to be the antithesis of the terrified, screaming little blonde girl menaced by the monster. So when Buffy is changed into a terrified screaming little girl menaced by a monster (in the street, in the kitchen, in the alley, in the warehouse) he also makes her a brunet. ;D
At the end, we get our two nice little lessons presented to us neatly. Buffy understands that “It’s good to be me”. (I wish she’d have been able to hang on to the memory of that feeling later.) And Willow learns that maybe it’s also good sometimes to let your hidden side out, too. “Who
is that girl?”
Lola
I told you. I really like this ep. Even with leaving out the stuff that is already said so well by Spring in her analysis I still have tons of notes left!
First, let me just say I love each and every one of the scenes between them in early season 2 – the writing and acting combined do such a perfect job with this sweet and creepy couple. (Sweetly creepy? Creepily sweet?) The way Spike calls her poodle. The way she drops Miss Edith to take his hand. The way he turns away from what he’s doing to assure her that he loves her “eyeballs to entrails”. The way his desire to kill the slayer is so linked to Dru (at least he believes this is the reason). Protecting her in this case, and it’s a nice continuity to later when we find out that the first slayer he killed was at least partly to impress Dru. The way he listens so intently to her description of the vision, teasingly coaxing her back when her mind wanders. He understands that her visions are true and important – takes notice of them and her. 
